Snow removal apparatus



u y 1945- J. E. BECKER SNOW REMOVAL APPARATUS Filed 001;. 10, 1944 2 Sheets'-Sheet 1 lnu ants]: JEIILI'LEQE'JEBKEJZ' 1 :4

July 2,- 1946.

' J. E. BECKER 2,403,257 I SNOW A REMOVAL APPARATUS Filed Oct. 10, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 2, 1946 v .t

, UNITEDv STATES PATENT OFFICE SNOW REMOVAL APPARATUS John Edward Becker, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Application October 10, 1944;, Serial No. 558,103

12 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in snow removal apparatusand particularly to the type of apparatus in which snow is gathered into a suitable element carried upon the front of the assembly from where it is fed through a blower or impeller either for scattering over a wide area or for feeding into a snow-receiving vehicle,

The object of my invention is to provide a mechanism wherein the snow is drawn into the apparatus by a suitably positioned screw conveyor rotating about an axis longitudinally of'the direction of travel of the apparatus; the snow, which is carried rearwardly by the conveyor, being fed into the housing of a snow-ejecting rotary impeller rotating about an axis transversely of the travel of the apparatus.

A further and particular object of my invention is to form my screw conveyor and its housing of substantially conical form wherein the apex portion of the housing communicates with the impeller housing, the snow entering the forward open mouth of the conical housing.

Another and important feature of the invention is to construct the screw conveyor in two parts, the forward part which first contacts and conveys the snow rearwardly being designed to run at a relatively slow speed, and a rearward part contained'in the apex portion of the housing being vdesigned to rotateat a considerably higher speed in order to compensate for the reduced snowcontaining capacity in the rearward portion of the cone. 4 b

With the foregoing and other objects in View, as shall hereinafter appear, my invention consists of a snow removal apparatus constructed and arranged all as hereinafter more particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of my apparatus.

. Figure 2 is a rear end elevational view thereof.

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal sectional view through my apparatus.

v,Figure 4 is a rear elevational view of the impeller incorporated in my apparatus.

Figure 5 is a, front elevational View of the apparatus to the same scale as shown in Figure 3, and

Figure 6 is a schematic side view of a truck showing my apparatusmounted thereon.

Like characters .of reference ,indicate corresponding, parts in the different views of the drawings; I My apparatus broadly consists of an opennaouthedgonicalcasing '2 which houses the screw nea er-s? i res casin is inc ined -.s own a y a bevel gear 2|.

2 and forwardly and its axis is positioned substantially tangentially to a cylindrical casing 3, which houses the impeller. The lower forward edge of the casing 2 and bottom of the impeller casing 3 are in substantially the same horizontal plane. A central shaft 4 is contained in the casing 2 and extends from its open mouth to the rearward portion of the casing where it is supported Within a bearing 5. A pair of oppositely positioned simithe tube 8 is secured to a second bushing II' which is looked to the shaft 4. It will be seen that by this construction the conveyor flight-carrying tube 8 is firmly secured upon the forward portion of the shaft 4. The ,Open mouth of the conical casing 2 is developed into rectangular shape and carries a spider I2, the centre l3 of which is provided with a suitable bearing recess to receive,

the outer end of the tube 8 and thus provide the necessary bearing support for the front end of the tube. v

The rearward portion of the conical casing 2 contains a second pair of oppositely positioned conveyor flights I5 and 16, which are secured upon a tubular member I! in which the rearward portion of theshaft 4 is contained. The forward end of the tube l is supported upon a ball bearing l8, the assembly of which incorporates the bushing II. The rearward portion of the tube I1 is supported within a ball bearing l9 contained within the housing portion I4. It will thus be seen, that while the tube I1 is mounted to rotate, its rotation is independent of the rotation of the shaft 4 and its sleeve 8.

The rear end of the shaft 4 carries a bevel gear 20, and the rear end of the tube l 'l carries The bevel gears 20 and '2l mesh with two bevel gears 2 2 and 23carried upon a shaft 24 contained within a suitable housing 25. The bevel gear 22, is of less diameter than itsmeshing gear 20 and the bevel gear 23 is of greater diameter than its meshing gear 2| so that rotation of the shaft .24 .will cause -the bevel gear 2I and its sleeve I] to rotate at a h sh a e tha th b ve ea in and the sha t A w th he c nsequence tha th p ir iq I rotates.

rotative speed than'the pair of conveyor flights 6 and I at the mouth'of the casing 2.

The rearward portion [4 of the casing 2 merges into the cylindrical housing 3 and upon refer-' ence to Figure 3 it will be clearly-seen that as the snow passes rearwardly through the casing 2 it will be projected into the casing 3 through the opening 50;

The casing '3 contains an impeller 26 secured upon a transverse shaft. 21. As shown in the drawings, the impeller consists of four blades 28 4 as, for example, by a drive shaft 46 extending along the lowerportion of the frame 33 and connected to both the shaft 43 and the engine 34 by suitable sprocket and'chain connections 41 and 48.

In order to direct the snow when it is ejected through the orifice 3| in the casing 3, any suitable type of swin'gable and adjustable conduit 49 can be attached in communication with the The snow passing through the conduit 49 may either be directed into an accompanying snow-receiving vehicle or truck, or, as

which extend tangentially from a hub .29. The

blades are scooped in the direction of their rota-' tion, as shown in Figure ,3, and are also flared 7 rearwardly from their centre lines, as shown in Figure 4. Uponreference to Figure 3, it will be understood that it is necessary to havethecone veyor-driving sleeve and shaft contained within a suitable supporting housing 50 which lies partially within'the path of rotation of the blades l28.' Inlorder that the blades 28 may pass the housing 68, the blades are formed with cut away centre portions 30 'as shown in Figure 4. The cut away portions 33 are just sufliciently large enough to clear the housing 60 as the'impeller The casing 3 is formed with a snow ejection the velocity of the snow passing through the conduit 49 is very high, the snow may be dispersed over an area adjacent to the area from which the snow is being removed.

From the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that I have devised a simple and yet very practical snow removal apparatus wherein the snow drawn in to the apparatus is propelled along an uninterrupted path, without any sharp orifice 31 which lies rearwardly of the housing,

' 60, and, uponreference to Figure 3,. it will be clearly seen that as theimpeller26 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrows that the snow will be ejected in a tangential direction by the impeller blades. The-scoop shape of the impellerblades, as shown in Figure 3, facilitates the steady ejection of the snow through the orifice 3|, and by flaring such blades rearwardly from their centre lines, as shown in Figure 4, the

snow will tend to slide from thecentres of the blades to their side edges, before ejection, thus allowing the blades to carry their full complement of snow, which would not be the case if the snow only collected upon the centres of the blades, It will, of course, be understood that the width of the casing 3 is just sufficient to receive the impeller so that snow cannot readily pass 7 between the side edges of the blades and the inner side, faces of the casing 3.

The construction of my apparatus is such that it can be readily mountedupon any suitable type of vehicle, for example, one or more pieces of my apparatus may be carried upon the front end of a locomotivefor clearing snow from railroad tracks, or my apparatus can be mounted upon the front of a truck, as shown in Figure 6, for clearing highways, aircraft landing fields, etc. In Figurefi, I show a truck 32 carrying a suitable frame 33 for the support of my apparatus. In order to actuate my apparatus, the truck may be designed to carry an engine 34 which is independent of the driving engine of the truck. I

In the drive shown in Figures 1, 2 and 6, the shaft 24 whichprotrudes from thehousing 25 carries a sprocket or pulley 35 which is connected V byeither a belt or chain 35 with a sprocket 31 -carried. upon a jack shaft 38 suitably mounted 'u'pon'a pair of brackets 39 and 4!]. The shaft '38 carries a sprocket or pulley 4| connected to a sprocket or pulley l2 upon the" drive shaft43 through the medium of either a belt or chain "44 The'drive'shaft 43 is connected through suit- 'able crown ge'ars with the impeller shaft 21,

such gears are not shown but are contained in th'ehousingAS. The drive shaft43 can be actuatedin'anysuitable manner by the engine 34,

my invention, as set out in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1, A snow removal apparatus of the character described having in combination a snow contacting and receiving screw conveyor with its axis of rotation disposed substantially longitudinally of the direction of movement of the apparatus and a snow ejection rotary impeller positioned at the rear end of the screw conveyor and into which the snow leaving the screw conveyor is fed and having its axis of rotation disposed substantially transversely of the direction of movement of the apparatus and wherein the axis of the screw conveyor is disposed substantially tan-- gentially to the path of rotation of the impeller.

2. A snow removal apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the screw conveyor is of conical form decreasing in diameter from the snow contacting end towards the impeller and with its axis of rotation disposed substantially tangentially to the path of rotation of the impeller.

3. A snow removal apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the impeller is contained in a cylindrical housing formed with a snow ejection orifice positioned in the upper portion of the housing.

4. A snow removal apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the axis of the screw conveyor ing forwardly and downwardly from the top of the impeller, and a cylindrical housing in which the impeller is contained and formed with a snow ejection orifice positioned substantially in alignment with the axis of the conveyor.

5. A snow removal apparatus of the character describedcomprising a conical shaped snow contacting and receiving screw conveyor withits axis :disposed substantially longitudinally of the directionof movement ofthe apparatus, an open mouthed conical casing in which the'screw conveyor is contained, a snow ejection rotary impeller into which the snow leaving the screw conveyor is fed and rotating about an axis disposed substantially transversely of the direction :of movement of the apparatus, and a substantially cylindrical housingin which the impeller the conical casing projects in a forward and downward direction.

6. A snow removal apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein the screw conveyor consists of two parts, the forward part which first contacts and conveys the snow rearwardly being designed to run at a relatively slow speed and the rearward part being designed to run at a higher speed, a rotating shaft extending axially of the conical casing and upon the forward portion of which the forward part of the screw conveyor is carried, a sleeve rotating independently of the shaft and surrounding its rearward portion and upon which the rearward part of the screw conveyor is carried, and means for rotating the sleeve at a higher speed than the speed of the shaft.

7. A snow' removal apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein the screw conveyor consists of two parts, the forward part which first contacts and conveys the snow rearwardly being designed to run at a relatively slow speed and the rearward part being designed to run at a higher speed, a rotating shaft extending axially of the conical casing and upon the forward portion of which the forward part of the screw conveyor is carried, a sleeve rotating independently of the shaft and surrounding its rearward portion and upon which the rearward part of the screw con veyor is carried, means for rotating the sleeve at a higher speed than the speed of the shaft, and a plurality of blades incorporated in the impeller, the outer edges of which are cut away in order that the blades may clear the screw conveyor assembly.

8. A snow removal apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein the screw conveyor consists of two parts, the forward part which first contacts and conveys the snow rearwardly being designed to run at a relatively slow speed and the rearward part being designed to run at a higher speed, a rotating shaft extending axially of the conical casing and upon the forward portion of which the forward part of the screw conveyor is carried, a sleeve rotating independently of the shaft and surrounding its rearward portion and upon which the rearward part of the screw conveyor is carried, means for rotating the sleeve at a higher speed than the speed of the shaft, and a plurality of substantially V-shaped blades incorporated in the impeller with the apices of the blades leading in their direction of rotation.

9. A snow removal apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein the screw conveyor consists of two parts, the forward part which first contacts and conveys the snow rearwardly being designed to run at a relatively slow speed and the rearward part being designed to run at a higher speed, a rotating shaft extending axially of the conical casing and upon the forward portion of which the forward part of the screw conveyor is carried, a sleeve rotating independently of the shaft and surrounding its rearward portion and upon which the rearward part of the screw conveyor is carried, means for rotating the sleeve at a higher speed than the speed of the shaft, and a plurality of substantially V-shaped blades incorporated in the impeller with the apices of the blades leading in their direction of rotation, the outer edges of the blades being cut away to permit the blades to clear the screw conveyor assembly.

10. A snow removal apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the screw conveyor consists of a forward screw and a rearward screw in axial alignment, the forward screw which first contacts and conveys the snow rearwardly rotatin at a relatively slow speed and the rearward screw rotating at a higher speed, and means for simultaneously rotating the two screw conveyors at their relative speeds.

11. A snow removal apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the screw conveyor is of conical form decreasing in diameter from the snow contacting end towardsthe impeller, the conveyor consisting of a forward screw and a rearward screw in axial alignment, the forward screw which contacts and conveys the snow rearwardly rotating at a relatively slow speed and the rearward screw rotating at a higher speed, and means for simultaneously rotating the two screw conveyors at their relative speeds.

12. A snow removal apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the screw conveyor has its axis of rotation disposed substantially tangentially to the path of rotation of the impeller and is of conical form decreasing from the snow contacting end towards the impeller, the conveyor consisting of a forward screw and a rearward screw in axial alignment, the forward screw which contacts and conveys the snow rearwardly rotating at a relatively slow speed and the rearward screw rotating at a higher speed, and means for simultaneously rotating the two screw conveyors at their relative speeds.

JOHN EDWARD BECKER. 

